1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus for interconnecting the electrical lighting system of a trailer to the electrical lighting system of a towing vehicle, and more particularly, to a universal cable for interconnecting a wide variety of wiring sockets mounted to the towing vehicle to a wide variety of wiring plugs mounted to the trailer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cars and trucks are often used to pull wheeled boat trailers, campers, and other wheeled vehicles behind them. In such instances, it is necessary to interconnect the rear brake lights, turn signal indicators, and night running lights within the electrical system of the trailer to the electrical system of the towing vehicle, for allowing other drivers following behind the trailer to anticipate stops and turns, and to see the trailer ahead at night. Owners of the towing vehicles typically install, or have installed, a wiring interconnection kit including a wiring socket that is interconnected with the electrical lighting system of the towing vehicle, and a wiring plug that is interconncted with the electrical lighting system of the trailer. Wiring sockets and wiring plugs purchased as a kit are matched with one another, whereby the wiring plug is received within the wiring socket. The wiring socket includes a number of electrical terminals arranged in a predetermined pattern, while the wiring socket includes an equal number of electrical terminals arranged in the same predetermined pattern for mating with one another as the wiring plug is inserted into the wiring socket When a user originally installs the aforementioned kit, the user is directed to interconnect the wiring socket with the towing vehicle, and to interconnect the wiring plug with the trailer, such that the electrical terminal within the wiring socket that is interconnected with the brake light of the towing vehicle will mate with the electrical terminal in the wiring plug that connects to the brake lights of the trailer, and so forth. Such kits are available in a variety of forms. For example, molded trailer connectors having anywhere from 2 to 6 wiring terminals are available from Del City Wire Co., Inc. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Such molded connectors include matching male and female connectors, with electrical terminals arranged either in a single row or in two adjacent rows. The same company also sells a chromed trailer connector for mounting to a towing vehicle and including a socket provided with a hinged, spring-biased metal cover to keep out moisture and dust when not in use. A mating plug is provided for wiring into the electrical lighting system of the trailer. Such chromed connectors are available in 4 and 5 contact varieties; the pattern of electrical pins provided within the 4 contact socket differs from the pattern used in the 5 contact socket. Six contact chromed metal connectors and associated plugs, are also commercially available.
Apart from differences in the physical form, shape, and number of electrical terminals provided in various types of wiring sockets and related wiring plugs for use with trailers, the form of the electrical terminals within such wiring sockets and wiring plugs may also vary, some of the electrical terminals being provided as conventional male jacks and female sockets, while others are provided as split spade connectors.
Discrepancies between various types of trailer wiring connectors do not pose a problem when the owner of the towing vehicle is pulling his own trailer having an electrical wiring plug that is compatible with the wiring socket mounted on the towing vehicle. However, in those instances when the owner of the towing vehicle borrows a trailer or other wheeled vehicle owned by another person, it often happens that the wiring plug installed in such trailer is incompatible with the wiring socket already mounted on the towing vehicle. In such cases, the owner of the towing vehicle is faced with the inconvenience of having to disconnect the wiring socket already mounted to the towing vehicle, purchasing a wiring socket compatible with the wiring plug installed upon the trailer, and interconnecting the new wiring socket to the electrical lighting system of the towing vehicle in a manner which matches the wiring pattern used to interconnect the wiring plug to the electrical lighting system of the trailer. Not only does this process take a significant amount of time, but it often happens that wires are inadvertently crossed during the rewiring process, resulting in fuses being blown. Moreover, before the owner of the towing vehicle can again tow his own trailer, the owner must rewire the towing vehicle back to the originally installed wiring socket.
Various efforts have been made in the past to overcome the problems described above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,660,679 issued to Hunt discloses a coupling system for interchangeably connecting the wiring systems of truck tractors and trailers. However, the apparatus disclosed therein requires that each tractor be provided with a specific form of wiring plug, and that each tractor be provided with a specific form of plug having a series of individual jacks. Such a system is incompatible with the conventional forms of wiring socket and wiring plugs commercially available for use with cars and light duty trucks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,190 issued to Schroeder discloses a circuit interchange module for interconnecting a towing vehicle to a trailer. The interchange module is specifically designed to be used only with single-row molded trailer connectors having 4 contacts; the interchange module serves to reorder the wiring terminals of one molded connector with respect to the other molded connector to correct the situation wherein the molded connector attached to the towing vehicle has been wired differently from the mating molded connector wired to the trailer. Such an interchange module, however, is incapable of coupling wiring sockets and wiring plugs of different shapes and/or having a different number of contacts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,310 issued to Young discloses an electrical coupling apparatus designed to interconnect the electrical circuit of a number of different trailers to that of a number of different towing vehicles. The device includes a first polarized coupler adapted to mate with a corresponding polarized coupler interconnected with the electrical lighting system of the trailer. The device further includes a universal coupler designed to be interconnected with the electrical lighting system of the trailer. Also included is a universal coupler designed to be interconnected with the electrical lighting system of the towing vehicle and having a series of electrical contacts formed thereon. The aforementioned polarized coupler is interconnected with the universal coupler by a plurality of interchangeable wire leads. However, the use of such a system requires that any wiring socket previously attached to the towing vehicle be removed in favor of the universal coupler. Moreover, while the polarized coupler may mate with some forms of trailer wiring plugs, it is not designed to mate with more than one type of trailer wiring plug.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,115 issued to Bonnett discloses an adapter for interconnecting a 4 wire electrical lighting system of a towed vehicle to a three-wire electrical lighting system of a towing vehicle. However, it does not appear that the disclosed apparatus is adapted to interconnect wiring sockets and wiring plugs of different shapes and/or having different patterns of electrical terminals.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a universal wiring connection cord for interconnecting the electrical lighting system of a towing vehicle with the electrical lighting system of a trailer to be towed wherein the wiring socket previously interconnected with the electrical lighting system of the towing vehicle differs in shape or style from a wiring plug previously interconnected with the electrical lighting system of the trailer.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a universal wiring connection cord serving to interconnect a wiring socket interconnected with the electrical lighting system of the towing vehicle to a wiring plug interconnected with electrical lighting system of the trailer, even though the wiring socket and the wiring plug have differing numbers of electrical terminals and/or electrical terminals laid out in differing patterns.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a universal wiring connection cord for interconnecting a wiring plug interconnected with the electrical lighting system of the towing vehicle with a wiring plug interconnected to the electrical lighting system of a trailer, even though the electrical terminals within the wiring socket and the wiring plug are of differing sizes and/or of differing types.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a universal wiring connection cord which may be used to quickly and easily establish a common ground connection between the towing vehicle and the trailer.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a universal wiring connection cord which may be easily maintained taut when in use to avoid inadvertent snagging and/or damage caused by dragging on the ground.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a universal wiring connection cord which may be manufactured easily and inexpensively, and which is easy to use.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.